﻿﻿﻿HRNK'S REPORTS ON THE PRISON CAMPS﻿﻿﻿

About North Korea's Hidden Gulag:

There are four known political prison camps, and over twenty prison labor camps spread throughout North Korea. Kim Il-sung, North Korea's first leader, modeled the prison camps on the Soviet gulags, and over the past six decades, North Korea's prison system has grown tremendously. Today it is estimated that between 80,000 and 120,000 people are imprisoned in these camps. North Koreans are imprisoned for actions that are guaranteed as universal rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and prosecuted without a fair trial as anti-state criminals. Once imprisoned, these North Koreans are subjected to torture, forced starvation, punishment for practicing religion, and execution. Prisoners are controlled through forced labor and hunger, and develop chronic health issues due to a lack of food and diversity of food sources. Depending on the crime, prisoners can spend decades, or even the remainder of their entire lives in these prison camps, and some prisoners are even born into the system. Humans imprisoned in these conditions has a greatly reduced lifespan, and former prisoners have said that detainees may be forced to dig their own graves and watch the executions of their fellow prison mates.

﻿Former Prisoner Testimony:

Kim Young-soon defected from North Korea in 2003, after being held in a prison camp as a political prisoner for 10 years. I talked about her story today; it's one that is similar to the horrific experiences of tens of thousands of North Korean political prisoners